On Friday, in a first round Northern Section Division 4 contest, the Lions season ended with a 35-20 defeat to the Volcanoes, which downed Etna 28-0 in a regular season contest on Sept. 13.

Etna was the No. 5 seed while Chester came in as the No. 4 seed.

Turnovers were a key factor in the loss, with Etna coughing up the ball three times, with two of those turnovers resulting in two scores for Chester.

Head coach Wade Dickinson said it's never an easy thing to know the season is over after a loss.

"You can't fix issue the next week," he said. "You can't do anything about it."

Etna ended the season 8-3 while Chester improved to 9-2 overall and will face top seed Maxwell in a semifinal match this Friday.

The 2013 season turned out be quite the positive one overall for the Lions as the team made the playoffs for the first time since 2008 after earning only three wins the year before. The Lions also finished second in the Shasta Cascade League to Fall River, who is still alive in the D4 playoffs as a No. 3 seed after downing Portola on Friday.

"All in all I'm very proud of these kids," Dickinson said, adding that they played quite well this season and did a lot to make the community proud.

"Overall this was a good season," he said.

To Dickinson, this year was a positive stepping stone in his first year as head coach and hopes the team will continue to make progress next year.

On the Lions first possession they turned over the ball over to Chester, which scored on its second play on a long run by the quarterback.

By the second quarter Chester proceeded to score two more times, including a score after blocking a punt to take a commanding 21-0 lead.

But Etna was able to get on the board around seven minutes into the second quarter on a 40-yard touchdown reception from junior Harrison Hogun to senior Lukas Nadig. The point-after was missed with Chester heading into the half with the 15-point advantage.

Early in the third quarter the Lions showed some signs of life when senior Zach Fleener intercepted the ball and ran 40 yards for the score. Dickinson said that this was the second INT for a touchdown for Fleener this year to help reduce the lead to 21-12."

It was a great play by him," he said.

Etna went for two but the observations failed.

Dickinson said Etna could not capitalize as they eventually lost the game by 15.

A large group of Etna fans made the more than four hour one-way journey to Chester. Dickinson said that it was a nice for the players to see their fans in the stands and thanked them for all their support.